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Missouri’s Department of Health and Senior Services rejected a license renewal Friday for a Planned Parenthood clinic in St. Louis, but the clinic can temporarily continue to provide abortions. The rejection was the latest development in a long legal battle over the state’s last remaining abortion clinic.

The health department told Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region that its license would be rejected, minutes before a court hearing for the organization was to begin.

Circuit Judge Michael Stelzer, who had previously granted Planned Parenthood a temporary injunction allowing the clinic to continue providing abortions when the health department refused to renew its license, ruled Friday that his injunction was to remain in effect until he presented both parties with a list of next steps.

Planned Parenthood advocates in Missouri alleged Friday that the health department “weaponized a regulatory process” as part of a broader campaign to end abortion access in the state.

A spokesperson for the health department told reporters the Planned Parenthood location had resolved only four of the 30 deficiencies the department had identified, prompting officials to deny the license renewal. The health department also cited the unwillingness of physicians at the location to sit for interviews with the health department.

Planned Parenthood asserts it cannot compel the physicians to testify, as they were not full-time staff.

If the Planned Parenthood clinic were to lose its license, Missouri would be the first state since 1974 not to have an abortion provider. That’s a year after the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision. In recent months, states across the country have enacted laws to restrict abortion access, with some seeking to overturn the Supreme Court’s 1973 decision legalizing abortion nationwide.

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This week the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a new rule that rolls back the ambitious Obama Era regulations designed to cut planet warming emissions. The Trump Administration says this will result in cleaner air and cheaper energy. But critics say the United States should be cutting emissions more not less, and some U.S. states are doing just that. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports.

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Steve Herman, Carla Babb, Katherine Gypson, Ken Bredemeier contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON — National security officials in Washington are declining comment on media reports that U.S. President Donald Trump approved military strikes against in Iran Thursday but then pulled back from launching them for unknown reasons.

Trump initially authorized attacks on a handful of Iranian targets, such as radar and missile batteries, as first reported by The New York Times.

The Washington Post and other media subsequently also reported that administration officials said the president approved the counterstrikes.

Meanwhile, Reuters reported that the Iranian government told the news agency that it had received a message from President Trump via Oman overnight, warning of an imminent attack on Iran.

Reuters said that Tehran’s immediate response to Trump’s message was a stark warning over “regional and international” consequences if U.S. undertakes any military action.

FAA emergency order

The Federal Aviation Administration on Thursday evening issued an emergency order prohibiting all U.S. aircraft operators from entering airspace above parts of the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, the region where a U.S. Navy drone was shot down by Iran. Several international airlines, including Dutch carrier KLM and Australia’s Qantas say they will also not fly over the Strait of Hormuz.

The Global Hawk surveillance drone was flying over the Strait of Hormuz when it was hit by an Iranian missile, an incident Trump terms a “very bad mistake.”

“This is a new fly in the ointment,” Trump said Thursday while meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the White House.

“This drone was in international waters, clearly. We have it all documented. It’s documented scientifically, not just words,” Trump told reporters.

When asked if the action could lead to war with Iran, the president replied, “You’ll find out.”

Trump, answering questions from reporters, suggested the downing of the American drone could have been an accident, rather than a deliberate provocative action ordered by Iran’s leaders.

“I find it hard to believe it was intentional, if you want to know the truth,” Trump said. “I think that it could have been somebody who was loose and stupid that did it.”

Iran: Drone in our air space

 Iran contends the drone flew into its air space, which was a “blatant violation of International law.”

Iran’s letter to @antonioguterres & #UNSC: While Iran does not seek war, it reserves its inherent right, under the UN Charter,to take all appropriate necessary measures against any hostile act violating its territory & is determined to vigorously defend its land, sea & air. pic.twitter.com/LDQBOZPCi5

— Alireza Miryousefi (@miryousefi) June 20, 2019

The U.S. drone “conducted an overflight through the Strait of Hormuz to Chabahar port in full stealth mode as it had turned off its identification equipment and engaged in a clear spying operation,” Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations Majid Ravanchi wrote in a letter to the U.N.

“While the Islamic Republic of Iran does not seek war, it reserves its inherent right … to take all appropriate necessary measures,” he wrote.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also defended Tehran’s actions, sharing Iran’s version of the coordinates of the drone’s flight on Twitter.

At 00:14 US drone took off from UAE in stealth mode & violated Iranian airspace. It was targeted at 04:05 at the coordinates (25°59’43″N 57°02’25″E) near Kouh-e Mobarak.

We’ve retrieved sections of the US military drone in OUR territorial waters where it was shot down. pic.twitter.com/pJ34Tysmsg

— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) June 20, 2019

“We’ve retrieved sections of the US military drone in OUR territorial waters where it was shot down,” he said.

US military response

U.S. Air Forces Central Command, which oversees U.S. military activity in the region, calls the Iranian claims “categorically false.”

“This attack is an attempt to disrupt our ability to monitor the area following recent threats to international shipping and free flow of commerce,” Lt. Gen Joseph Guastella said in a statement he read to reporters at the Pentagon, adding the drone was 34 kilometers from the Iranian coastline when it was shot down.

Guastella also said the Iranian attack risked harming civilians using established air corridors between the United Arab Emirates and Oman.

U.S. officials said several naval ships have been dispatched to recover pieces of the drone from a debris field in international waters.

The RQ-4 drone costs more than $222 million and can surveil about 100,000 square kilometers a day, an area about the size of South Korea or Iceland.

Congressional concern

Concern about a potential armed confrontation between the U.S. and Iran has been growing since U.S. officials last week accused Iran of being responsible for mine attacks on two oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, allegations Tehran denies.

Earlier this week, top defense officials warned of a growing risk of miscalculation. And U.S. lawmakers briefed by top intelligence and defense officials at the White House late Thursday also expressed concern.

“I told the president that these conflicts have a way of escalating,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters. “We’re worried that he and the administration may bumble into war.”

The situation in Iran requires a “strong, smart and strategic, not reckless approach,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said following the White House meeting.

The U.S. announced this week it was authorizing another 1,000 troops, including a Patriot missile battery and additional manned and unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, to bolster defenses at U.S. positions in Iraq and Syria, citing numerous “threat streams” that “link back to the Iranian regime.”

Earlier Thursday, South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham warned if Iran kept pushing for a fight with the U.S., it may very well get its wish.

“He believes that we’re getting into a bad space, that his options are running out,” Graham told reporters after speaking with President Trump.

But while talking with reporters at the White House, Trump seemed to allow room for some diplomatic maneuvering.

“It could have been somebody that was loose and stupid,” he said of whoever ordered the attack.

He also said, “It would have made a big, big difference” had Iran shot down a manned U.S. aircraft.

International concern

International concern about the prospects of armed conflict between the U.S. and Iran is also growing.

“Obviously the facts need to be established,” Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, told reporters in New York.

“He has warned against any escalation. Warned, stressed that the world cannot afford a major conflict in that area,” Dujarric said. “I think it’s important that all parties exercise maximum restraint and avoid any action that could inflame the situation.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin also warned the U.S. against retaliating for the incident, saying U.S. use of force against Iran “would be a disaster for the region.”

The U.S. military said Iran first tried to shoot down a U.S. drone last week.

Iran nuclear deal

Relations have deteriorated since Trump withdrew last year from the international agreement that limited Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

Since then, the U.S. has levied a variety of sanctions against Iran as part of what the a “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran, aimed at bringing Tehran back to negotiations in order to secure what White House officials have described as a more comprehensive nuclear deal that also addresses Iran’s missile program and its support for terrorist groups.

U.S. officials believe the Iranian government is feeling the pressure from the renewed sanctions.  But in response, Iran announced increased production of low-enriched uranium as it seeks help from European nations to circumvent the U.S. measures.

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It may be hard to believe that in modern-day America, not everybody has access to high-speed internet. But that is the reality for many Americans, especially those in rural areas of the country. VOA’s Julie Taboh traveled to the Southern region of the state of West Virginia to learn how lack of connectivity is affecting members of a farming community.

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The Senate has voted to block the Trump administration from selling arms to Saudi Arabia, launching a new challenge to President Donald Trump’s alliance with the country amid rising tensions in the Middle East.

Trump has promised to veto the measures. The White House said stopping the sales “would send a message that the United States is abandoning its partners and allies at the very moment when threats to them are increasing.”

While all the resolutions of disapproval are likely to pass the House, supporters fell well short of a veto-proof margin. Two of the resolutions passed with 53 votes, while another group was approved narrowly, with 51 votes. Overturning a veto requires a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate.

Overall, there were 22 resolutions, one for each of the individual sales. But most of the resolutions were considered as a package to avoid tying up the Senate with lengthy debates over each of them.

Seven Republicans broke with Trump to reject at least some of the arms sales: Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Mike Lee of Utah, Jerry Moran of Kansas, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Todd Young of Indiana.

The votes came against the backdrop of heightened U.S. tensions with Iran. Iran shot down a U.S. drone Thursday, a move Trump declared “a very big mistake.” Congressional leaders received a closed-door briefing on the situation at the Capitol and were invited to the White House in the afternoon the meet with Trump.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo cited threats from Iran when declaring an emergency to approve the weapons sales in May. The Saudis have recently faced a number of attacks from Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

”To reject these sales at this time and under these circumstances is to reward recent Iranian aggression and to encourage further Iranian escalation,” said Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Risch added that blocking the sale would also “encourage miscalculation on the part of Iranians which will be disastrous.”

The arms sales, worth an estimated $8 billion, included precision guided munitions, other bombs and ammunition and aircraft maintenance support.

Opposition in Congress to close U.S. Saudi ties escalated after the killing of U.S.-based columnist Jamal Khashoggi by agents of the kingdom last year. But a small group of lawmakers has been voicing concern about the Saudi-led coalition’s war in Yemen for years.

Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the war in Yemen was one reason for his opposition to the arms sales.

”These are bombs that we know have killed thousands of civilians in Yemen, patients in hospitals, children on school buses,” Menendez said. The conflict in Yemen has killed thousands of civilians and left millions more are on the brink of starvation. Menendez called the humanitarian situation “an incomprehensible moral tragedy.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., delivered an impassioned speech from the Senate floor criticizing Saudi Arabia’s behavior as personally “disrespectful.”

”My relationship with Saudi Arabia is forever changed,” he said, accusing the Kingdom of taking their relationship with the U.S. “for granted” and caring more about “maintaining power at all costs,” than their alliance.

”You’ve lost me, and that’s too bad,” he said.

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 America is aging.

Data released by the U.S. Census Bureau on Thursday shows the median age in the U.S. increased by a year to 38.2 years from 2010 to 2018.
 
If there’s someone to blame, it’s the baby boomers. Many in that group of Americans born between the end of World War II and the Beatles’ American invasion in 1964 have been hitting the retirement mark in the past eight years.
 
“This aging is driven in large part by baby boomers crossing over the 65-year-old mark,” said Luke Rogers, the chief of the Population Estimates Branch at the Census Bureau.
 
The gray hairs are showing up faster in some places than others, at least percentage-wise.
 
In Puerto Rico, the median age jumped by almost 6 years, from 36.9 years to 42.8 years. That was driven by younger people moving to the U.S. mainland after Hurricane Maria caused widespread destruction on the island in 2017.
 
Among U.S. states, Maine had the greatest increase in median age, 2.2 years, going from 42.7 years to 44.9 years. For several years now, Maine has been ahead of the curve with an aging population, a result of stagnant growth where deaths outnumber births and few people moving in.
 
The only state whose median age got younger was North Dakota, which has undergone a population boom driven by growth in the energy sector. The median age went from 37 years in 2010 to 35.2 years in 2018.
  

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Saudi Arabia and Cuba are now on a list of countries the United States considers derelict in their responsibilities to combat human trafficking, raising the risk of sanctions against those countries.

In its annual report on human trafficking, the State Department accused ally Saudi Arabia of widespread violations involving foreign laborers and denounced Cuba for allegedly engaging in trafficking through its program that exports doctors abroad.

“If you don’t stand up to trafficking, America will stand up to you,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters Wednesday in Washington, shortly after the report’s release.

The annual Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP Report) assesses what countries are doing to combat what Pompeo describes as “one of the most heinous crimes on Earth.”

The top U.S. diplomat said traffickers are currently victimizing nearly 25 million people worldwide.

The State Department designated Saudi Arabia and Cuba as Tier 3 countries, the report’s lowest possible ranking. China, North Korea, Russia and Venezuela have also been designated as such.

The U.S. said the Saudi kingdom has done little to help victims, choosing to, instead, jail, fine or deport them after accusing them of immigration violations or prostitution.

Cuba, a long-time U.S. adversary, has threatened or coerced physicians to participate in its overseas medical program, the report said.

Some 8,300 Cuban medical workers who had been stationed in Brazil departed the country after President Jair Bolsonaro complained earlier this year the Cuban government keeps most of the wages paid to the workers, whom he described as “slave labor.”

Tier 3 countries are subject to U.S. actions, including partial or total elimination of support from the International Monetary Fund or other international support organizations.

The U.S. president, however, can waive sanctions against Tier 3 countries with the hope it will encourage them act more aggressively against traffickers.

Pompeo said the U.S. took actions last year against 22 Tier 3 countries.

The State Department report, which assesses 187 countries, concluded many world governments have enacted laws to hold traffickers accountable since the 2000 adoption of the United Nation’s Palermo Protocol. The pact requires countries to codify human trafficking as a crime both within and between countries.

But the report calls on countries to do more to ensure protections for victims within their borders. Greater protections requires “political courage” to investigate “official power structures,” for example, and to “ending impunity for crimes that have long been seen as accepted local and cultural practices.”

“Acknowledging human trafficking within the borders of a country is not easy,” the report declared. “Governments should be willing to admit its existence and rise to their responsibility to address it.”

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The United States has slapped sanctions on a Russian financial entity for helping North Korea evade international sanctions.

The Treasury Department on Wednesday targeted the Russian Financial Society and blocked all its assets in the United States. U.S. citizens are also barred from doing business with the firm.

“Treasury continues to enforce existing U.S. and U.N. sanctions against individuals and entities in Russia and elsewhere who facilitate illicit trade with North Korea,” Treasury Undersecretary Sigal Mandelker said.

Treasury officials accused the Russian Financial Society of opening bank accounts for a North Korean company owned by the North Korean Foreign Trade Bank, and also for a representative of a second company, the Korea Zinc Industrial Group.

The bank, its Moscow representative, Han Jang Su, and Korea Zinc are already under U.S. sanctions.

Treasury said the Russian Financial Society allowed North Korea to evade sanctions to gain access to the global financial system so the country could earn revenue for the North’s nuclear program.

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Former top White House adviser Hope Hicks was refusing to answer questions related to her time in the White House in an interview Wednesday with the House Judiciary Committee, dimming Democrats’ chances of obtaining new or substantive information about President Donald Trump as part of their investigation into obstruction of justice.  
  
Less than an hour into the interview, frustrated Democrats taking breaks from the meeting said Hicks and her lawyer were following White House orders to stay quiet about her time there working for Trump. She was answering some questions about her time on Trump’s campaign, the lawmakers said.  
  
“She’s objecting to stuff that’s already in the public record,” said California Rep. Karen Bass. “It’s pretty ridiculous.” 
 
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., called her answers “a farce.” California Rep. Ted Lieu tweeted about the interview, writing that Hicks refused to answer even innocuous questions such as whether she had previously testified before Congress.  
  
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., declined to comment on the substance of the interview so far, saying “all I’ll say is Ms. Hicks is answering questions put to her and the interview continues.” 
 
Republicans had a different perspective, saying she was cooperative and that the interview was a waste of time. The top Republican on the panel, Georgia Rep. Doug Collins, said they were “simply talking about things that are already out there in public or getting the same answers over and over.” 
 
It was so far unclear whether Democrats would take Hicks or the administration to court to challenge the claim of immunity. In a letter Tuesday to Nadler, White House counsel Pat Cipollone wrote that Trump had directed Hicks not to answer questions “relating to the time of her service as a senior adviser to the president.” 
 
Cipollone said Hicks, as one of Trump’s former senior advisers, is “absolutely immune” from compelled testimony with respect to her service to the president because of the separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches. The White House has similarly cited broad executive privilege with respect to many of the Democrats’ investigative demands, using the president’s power to withhold information to protect the confidentiality of the Oval Office decision-making process. 
 

With Hope Hicks Interview, Dems Breach Trump’s Inner Circle

Mueller wrote in his 448-page report released in April that there was not enough evidence to establish a criminal conspiracy between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia

Democrats say they disagree that Hicks’ answers are covered by such immunity or privilege, especially since she has already cooperated with Mueller. 
 
Jayapal said that at one point Hicks started to answer a question, and the lawyers jumped in and said, “We’re starting executive.” 
 
“Basically, she can say her name,” Jayapal said. 
 
As Hicks spoke to the lawmakers, Trump tweeted that the investigation is “extreme Presidential Harassment.” He wrote that Democrats “are very unhappy with the Mueller Report, so after almost 3 years, they want a Redo, or Do Over.” 
 
The interview marks the first time lawmakers are hearing from a person linked to Trump’s inner circle since the release of Mueller’s report. Obtaining the testimony Wednesday from Hicks, a former White House communications director and a trusted former Trump aide, was a victory for the committee, given that Trump has broadly stonewalled their investigations and said he will fight “all of the subpoenas.”  
 
The Judiciary panel wanted a higher-profile interview with Hicks, subpoenaing her for public testimony. But they agreed to the private interview after negotiations. A transcript of the session will be released in the days afterward. 
 
The committee has also subpoenaed Hicks for documents, but she has only partially complied. She agreed to provide some information from her work on Trump’s campaign, but none from her time at the White House because of the administration’s objections. 

Hicks was a key witness for Mueller, delivering important information to the special counsel’s office about multiple episodes involving the president. Mueller wrote in his 448-page report released in April that there was not enough evidence to establish a criminal conspiracy between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia, but he said he could not exonerate Trump on obstruction of justice. The report examined several situations in which Trump attempted to influence or curtail Mueller’s investigation. 
 
Democratic aides said they planned on asking Hicks about several of those episodes, including efforts to remove Mueller from the investigation, pressure on former Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the firing of FBI Director James Comey. The aides spoke on condition of anonymity. 
 
The aides said that lawmakers also planned to ask about Hicks’ knowledge of hush-money payments orchestrated by former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen to two women who claimed to have had sexual encounters with Trump — porn actress Stormy Daniels and model Karen McDougal. Trump has denied the allegations. Cohen is now serving three years in prison partly for campaign violations related to the payments. 
 
Testimony from witnesses such as Hicks is one step in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s methodical approach to investigating Trump. More than 60 lawmakers in her caucus — including around a dozen on the Judiciary Committee — have called for opening an impeachment inquiry, but she has said she wants committees to investigate first and decide on impeachment later. 

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U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is canceling a visit to Sri Lanka during his upcoming visit to the Indo-Pacific region that includes accompanying President Donald Trump to the G-20 summit in Japan. 

The U.S. Embassy in Colombo said “unavoidable scheduling conflicts” necessitated the cancellation. The visit would have come nearly two months after the deadly Easter Sunday terror attacks that killed more than 250 people at hotels and churches. 

Pompeo “regrets that he is no longer able to visit Colombo at this time,” the embassy said in a statement. “He hopes to travel to Sri Lanka at a later date to underscore our strong partnership with Sri Lanka, which is rooted in a commitment to democracy, economic growth and a free, open Indo-Pacific region.” 

The top U.S. diplomat is traveling to India, Japan and South Korea June 24-30 to try to broaden Washington’s partnerships with allies in the Indo-Pacific region.  Trade and North Korea will be high on the agenda.  

The secretary of state’s visit to New Delhi comes after a decision by Trump to end preferential trade treatment for India amid a deepening dispute over protectionism. 

“We remain open to dialogue, and we hope that our friends in India will drop their trade barriers,” said Pompeo during a recent event at the U.S.-India Business Council.  

In New Delhi, Pompeo will discuss the U.S.-India strategic partnership with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who won re-election last month. 

The top U.S. diplomat will join Trump for the G-20 leaders’ summit, where the president is expected to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping amid escalating trade disputes between the world’s leading economies.  

The highly anticipated Trump-Xi meeting also comes after Xi’s scheduled visit to North Korea later this week, which makes Xi the first Chinese leader to visit Pyongyang in 14 years.  

In Washington, U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun said the U.S. has no preconditions for a new talk with North Korea. Negotiations have been in a “holding pattern” since a summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi in February.  

“The door is wide open to negotiations,” said Biegun at an event Wednesday at the Atlantic Council. “We expect and hope that in the not too distant future we will be re-engaged in this process in a substantive way.” 

Pompeo will join Trump in a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of G-20 summit.  Following the G-20, the secretary will also accompany Trump to Seoul to meet with President Moon Jae-in, according to the State Department.  

Officials say U.S., South Korean and Japanese leaders will strengthen trilateral cooperation on a unified approach to achieve “the final, fully verified denuclearization” of North Korea. 

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